Which Airtime speakers?

[Unbusy]

Kicking and screaming I'm trying to forget my vinyl for the time being and get down with the kids.
I have an iPhone and am buying music for it. At present I play through a small blue tooth speaker.
I want to buy half decent separate speakers, shelf size, that are AirPlay. I have read that the quality is better than Bluetooth. True?
What happened to stereo? The vast majority I can find are single speakers. Wtf?
I would appreciate any suggestions and places to buy seperate speakers for the stereo experience!

[Thorny]

I'm not an expert but I think that the higher quality Bluetooth options are better sound quality than AirPlay.

Wrt speakers, there's a huge array of options, if you want the best sound then you should get an AirPlay amp and use whatever wired speakers you want to. If you want wireless speakers then you can buy two and link them as a stereo pair with lots of brands - I think the B&W A5s for example.

Or just use Bluetooth or something like Sonos over wifi

[ladderino]

My recommendation would be to avoid AirPlay entirely and go with Sonos, or failing that, bluetooth.

I've tried and tried with AirPlay, and have a host of Apple TVs and Airport Expresses all over the place. Frustratingly though, I frequently get devices disappearing off the network, cut outs during play, etc., and I think a lot of people face similar issues without any obvious reason why.

[talkssense]

ladderino said:

My recommendation would be to avoid AirPlay entirely and go with Sonos, or failing that, bluetooth.

I've tried and tried with AirPlay, and have a host of Apple TVs and Airport Expresses all over the place. Frustratingly though, I frequently get devices disappearing off the network, cut outs during play, etc., and I think a lot of people face similar issues without any obvious reason why.

Ditch the sonos idea if you want decent sound quality for your spend.

Based on what OP said I would look at Kef X300 wireless, or the Egg Active.

[Zodiac M]

http://www.richersounds.com/product/wireless-docks...

[belleair302]

Buy a pair of Q Acoustic BT 3's.Staggeringly good hi fi speakers, small with serious punch and with Blutooth. AirPlay is now so last year. These speakers will cost you around £280 a pair but well worth the investment for epic sound quality and detail. If you have the money anything by Geneva is just amazing. Their Aerosphere range is the best sound I have ever heard from wireless, including Naim and KEF.

[Zodiac M]

£265 in my BT3 link above..

[ashleyman]

Everyone says Beats by Dre is crap. BUT I bought a BeatsPill+ and I LOVE it.

I've got it on right now at about 3/4 volume in my small-ish home office and it's filling the room and I can feel the floor vibrating from it. Sound quality is fantastic compared to most others I've heard. I didn't bother investigating SONOS as it's way too expensive. If my AppleTV is anything to go by in dropping or stuttering signals I ow;don't even bother with AirTime.

[Unbusy]

Thanks for all the help. I did a bit more reading on AirPlay and it is supposed to be better quality than blue tooth. Compression apparently. When I get time I will read up on that to cure my insomnia!
Will my lug 'oles tell the difference? Who can say?
Kef Egg is an option but one review mentions the base is light.
Nocs NS2 is looking favourite just now. £300 is the right range for now.
Long term it would be good to get all my record and cd collection onto a pc. Thanks again.

[kingston12]

ladderino said:

My recommendation would be to avoid AirPlay entirely and go with Sonos, or failing that, bluetooth.

I've tried and tried with AirPlay, and have a host of Apple TVs and Airport Expresses all over the place. Frustratingly though, I frequently get devices disappearing off the network, cut outs during play, etc., and I think a lot of people face similar issues without any obvious reason why.

A lot depends on your network. I have not tested Airplay much, but Sonos was a nightmare for me over several years and many different routers/access points. I replaced them this year with £15 Chromecast Audio units and they are rock solid, and give me the choice of which speakers I use. I appreciate that these may not work for other people in the same way Sonos didn't work for me, but I have not heard of many problems.

I think that a lot of the good options have been suggested to the OP. I have got a pair of the Q Acoustics BT3, a pair of Ruark MR1s and a pair of Roth OLi POWA-5s, and I like all of them. I run them with the Chromecast Audios attached as I like multiroom music, but each of them work well with Bluetooth when needed (although you won't get the higher quality APTx with an iPhone).

My main recommendation would be to go for a pair of stereo speakers rather than a single unit. Some of the single units sound excellent (Sonos Play 5, B&W Zeppelin etc), but there is only so much you can do with one speaker firing from the corner of a room.

[nitrodave]

Been looking at buying something myself and rounded it down to:

B&W Zeppelin
Bose Soundtouch 30
Sonos Play 5
Marshall Woburn

Haven't had the chance to try them all yet, The bose and B%W sound fantastic, but I'm really liking the Marshall Woburn of all those. It gets really great reviews and is a little bit different.

[MrOrange]

I have the Woburn. It's seriously kick-arse and goes super-loud.

[belleair302]

If you can find one, the Audiopro All Room Air One is well worth the money. Massive sounds, rich and deep, Airplay, Blutooth etc and in a lovely case. Not cheap around £400 but a five star product and just beautiful to own and listen to.

[nitrodave]

MrOrange said:

I have the Woburn. It's seriously kick-arse and goes super-loud.

I've yet to find one I can have a listen to before taking the plunge. Only place I know where I could do that is Selfridges and I'm yet to get down there.

I'm all into clarity, but I want something that really thumps as well. What is the bass response like? Interested to hear your thoughts.

[MrOrange]

It bangs like a banging thing. Proper old-skool sound. I rarely use it past half volume in my lounge (350 sq ft). Placement is important as it's rear-ported, too near a wall and it's too heavy etc...

And it looks the dogs danglies, too.

[nitrodave]

MrOrange said:

It bangs like a banging thing. Proper old-skool sound. I rarely use it past half volume in my lounge (350 sq ft). Placement is important as it's rear-ported, too near a wall and it's too heavy etc...

And it looks the dogs danglies, too.

Awesome, it sounds like what I'm after. Want something that will thump my reggae tunes rather than just give crisp clarity. I like bose and B&W for those reasons, but they just don't quite thump like I'd want.

Might have to swing by Selfrdges today and give one a go!

Thanks

[MrOrange]

Hunt around for pricing, seems to be discounted heavily from time to time (I paid circa £300 back in January)

[benz0]

nitrodave said:

Awesome, it sounds like what I'm after. Want something that will thump my reggae tunes rather than just give crisp clarity. I like bose and B&W for those reasons, but they just don't quite thump like I'd want.

Might have to swing by Selfrdges today and give one a go!

Thanks

Get a pair of active monitors with a large woofer then (8 inch perhaps).

That will provide deep bass and will sound a lot better than a portable one speaker solution.

For wireless, just add a Chromecast Audio. Sorted.

Further down the line if you get the itch you can add an active sub.

(said as a big fan of dub and bass heavy music in general)